On 13 January 2012 at about 9:45 p.m., in calm seas and overcast weather, under command of Captain Francesco Schettino, Costa Concordia struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea just off the eastern shore of Isola del Giglio, on the western coast of Italy about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Rome.[5][6] This tore a 50 m (160 ft) gash on the port side of her hull, which soon flooded parts of the engine room resulting in power loss to her propulsion and electrical systems. With water flooding in and listing, the ship drifted back to Giglio Island where she grounded 500 m (550 yd) north of the village of Giglio Porto, resting on her starboard side in shallow waters with most of her starboard side under water.[7][8] Despite the gradual sinking of the ship, its complete loss of power, and its proximity to shore in calm seas, an order to abandon ship was not issued until over an hour after the initial impact. Although international maritime law requires all passengers to be evacuated within 30 minutes of an order to abandon ship, the evacuation of Costa Concordia took over six hours and not all passengers were evacuated. Of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew known to have been aboard, 32 died.[9][10]

Costa Concordia was ordered in 2004 by Carnival Corporation from Fincantieri and built in the Sestri Ponente yard in Genoa,[11] as yard number 6122.[12] At the vessel's launch at Sestri Ponente on 2 September 2005,[13] the champagne bottle, released by model Eva Herzigová, failed to break when swung against the hull the first time, an inauspicious omen in maritime superstition.[14] The ship was delivered to Costa on 30 June 2006.[15] She cost €450 million (£372 million, US$570 million) to build.[16]

Costa Concordia was 290.20 metres (952 ft 1 in) long, had a beam of 35.50 m (116.5 ft) and drew 8.20 m (26.9 ft) of water. It had a diesel-electric power plant consisting of six 12-cylinderWärtsilä 12V46C four-stroke medium-speed diesel generating sets with a combined output of 76.6 MW (102,780 hp).[17] These main generators provided power for all shipboard consumers from propulsion motors to hotel functions like lighting and air conditioning. The ship was propelled by two 21-megawatt electric motors coupled to fixed-pitch propellers.[18] Her design service speed was 19.6 knots (36 km/h; 23 mph),[12] but during sea trials, she achieved a speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).

Costa Concordia was outfitted with approximately 1,500 cabins; 505 with private balconies and 55 with direct access to the Samsara Spa and were considered Spa staterooms; 58 suites had private balconies and 12 had direct access to the spa. Costa Concordia had one of the world's largest exercise facility areas at sea, the Samsara Spa, a two-level, 6,000 m2 (64,600 sq ft) fitness center, with gym, a thalassotherapy pool, sauna, Turkish bath and a solarium. The ship had four swimming pools, two with retractable roofs, five jacuzzis, five spas, and a poolside movie theatre on the main pool deck.[20]

There were five on-board restaurants, with Club Concordia and Samsara taking reservations-only dining. There were thirteen bars, including a cigar and cognac bar and a coffee and chocolate bar.

On 22 November 2008, Costa Concordia suffered damage to her bow when high winds over the Sicilian city of Palermo pushed the ship against its dock. There were no injuries and repairs started soon after.[21][22][23]

Without power, the ship drifted astern, but was now listing heavily to starboard.[8][24]Costa Concordia drifted back and grounded near shore, then rolled onto her starboard side, in an unsteady position on a rocky underwater ledge. Almost half of the ship remained above water, but it was in danger of sinking completely into a trough 70 metres (230 ft) deep.[25]

She was carrying 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew members,[26][27] all but 32 of whom were rescued; as of 22 March 2012[update], 30 bodies had been found, with two people known to be missing[28][29] and presumed dead.[30] There may have been other people not listed on board.[31] The search for bodies was canceled at the end of January[32] and resumed after the parbuckling maneuver in September 2013, after which additional remains have been found.[33] On September 26, 2013, remains were found on deck 4, and were reported as being the two passengers reported as missing.[34] The following day the remains were found not to be from the missing passengers.[35] In October 2013, the body of one of the missing passengers was found and confirmed to be that of Maria Grazia Trecarichi. Scuba divers had discovered her body in an advanced state of decay, near the third deck of the salvaged ship.[36]

An investigation focused on shortcomings in the procedures followed by the crew and the actions of the Italian captain, who allegedly left the ship prematurely.[6][37] About 300 passengers were left on board, most of whom were rescued by helicopter or motorboats in the area.[37]

An initial assessment by salvage expert Smit International estimated that the removal of Costa Concordia and her 2,380 tonnes of fuel[37][38] could take up to 10 months.[39] Smit advised that the ship had been damaged beyond the hope of economical repair and recommended it be written off as a constructive total loss. Smit was soon contracted to initially remove only Concordia's fuel.

During the fuel removal operation Smit reported that the ship had shifted 60 cm (24 in) in the 13 months since her grounding[30] but that there was no immediate prospect of her breaking up or sinking deeper.[30] Removal of the fuel from the various fuel tanks distributed throughout the ship was completed in March 2012, later than Smit's initial estimates. This cleared the way for the making of arrangements for the ultimate removal and salvaging/scrapping of the ship.

It was announced in May 2012 that the American salvaging firm Titan Salvage and Italian underwater construction firm Micoperi had won the salvage contracts following competitive bidding.[40] The salvage plan included the following operations:[41]

Secure the hull to the land using steel cables, to stop her falling deeper[42]

On 17 September 2013 Costa Concordia was brought to a vertical position through a parbuckling procedure.[43][44] The cost for salvaging the ship increased to $799 million.[45] In addition, the ship had suffered severe hull deformations in two places. Titan Salvage, the company directing the salvage operations, estimated that the next phase of the salvage operation would be completed by early summer, 2014. After this "floating" operation, the ship would be towed to a salvage yard on the Italian mainland for scrapping or "breaking".[46]

On 14 July 2014 work commenced to refloat Costa Concordia in preparation for towing.[47] At this point the costs had risen to 1 billion euros. Including tow cost, 100 million for the ship to be broken up for scrap and the cost of repairing damage to Giglio island, the estimated final cost was expected to be €1.5 billion ($2 billion).[48][49] On 23 July, having been refloated, the ship commenced its final journey under tow and a 14 ship escort at a speed of 2 knots to be scrapped in Genoa.[50][51] It arrived at port on 27 July, after a 4 day journey. It remains moored at the port, awaiting dismantling processes.[52][53]

A documentary broadcast in the United Kingdom, titled Terror at Sea: The Sinking of the Costa Concordia, and another first broadcast on 11 April 2012 on Channel 4, titled The Sinking of the Concordia: Caught on Camera, featured footage recorded by the passengers and crew.

Furthermore, a documentary, titled Cruise Ship Disaster: Inside the Concordia, was first broadcast on the Discovery Channel, CNN Presents: Cruise to Disaster, first broadcast by CNN on 14 July 2012,[55] and another, titled Inside Costa Concordia: Voices of Disaster, was first broadcast by the National Geographic Channel.[56] The season 39 Nova episode "Why Ships Sink" discusses the sinking of Costa Concordia.[57] A later Nova season 42 episode "Sunken Ship Rescue" featured the salvage effort and race to refloat and remove the badly damaged Costa Concordia from the accident scene before the ship could break apart, risking an environmental catastrophe. [58]

ABC's 20/20 aired a special on the sinking and interviews with the survivors on 15 February 2013, following the engine fire on Carnival Triumph.[59]